BRAZIL: Man of the Hour

For a while last fortnight many a Brazilian
feared that constitutional government was in danger. President Dutra's
own P.S.D. (Social Democratic Party) had splintered beneath him. In a
highly significant local election last week, Fascist-minded Getulio
Vargas, dictator for 15 years, and sallow Luis Carlos Prestes, the
Communist he kept jailed for nine of them, had joined to get control of
rich São Paulo State. To get some democratic backing against this
alliance, Dutra had only one course, and he took it. He called on the
opposition U.D.N. (National Democratic Union) Party for support. To
steaming Bahia sped an...